I hate to be one of those boastful kids who brag about something others can’t help, but to completely appreciate the evolution of Hassan Adams, you have to have been here all four years (or be a T-loc who followed him).
The kid came to school with “SportsCenter” Top-10 stamp Andre Iguodala as one of the best one-two recruiting punches in recent history, and to my knowledge was a 6-foot-4 pogo stick who had a rusty jumper and had recently lost to Amaré Stoudemire in the McDonald’s All-American dunk contest.
Adams and Iggy were thrown into a mix that included preseason All-American hopefuls Luke Walton and Jason Gardner, who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as the top team in the nation.
That first year Adams averaged a very helpful 9.1 points a game and 3.4 rebounds on the way to an Elite Eight loss to Kansas that ended my dream of four years of four championships (a boy can wish), but showed his potential greatness in his first game as a Wildcat, when he scorched Western Kentucky for 22 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
With Adams consistently improving throughout his four years, he has entered his final year as the obvious leader for the Wildcats, so why is he getting absolutely zero credit for this?
If you look outside of Pacific 10 Conference recognition, I don’t even think people know who he is.
Dick Vitale doesn’t. I’d be surprised if Jay Bilas could give you strong points concerning Adams’ game or what scouts think he should improve on.
I think that every two or three weeks I’ll be reading something online and that dark hole that is the East Coast Bias starts pulsating deep in my heart like Ma-Ti’s heart ring glowed during “Captain Planet.”
I read something and see nothing about Adams, or Arizona, or Olson being a great coach or the Pac-10, and I get mad.
It is easy to look at numbers to pick who you feel is the best player in the nation.
Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison scores like Colin Farrell at an Irish pub, and J.J. Redick is the best player on the best team in the nation.
Adams is only averaging 20.5 points per game, but he is definitely the only player we’ve had since Mike Bibby who would fall under the “If he breaks his leg we would finish with a losing season” category.
Adams is Tucson, whether you love his incredible vertical or hate his fade-away jumper.
There are few players in the nation (and definitely not five more) who could be in his position at this point in the season and still be excited about it.
The Wildcats are struggling shooting the ball, so Adams found a place where he can make a good number of his shot attempts (just inside the 3-point arc).
We play arguably the best team in the Pac-10 and he goes off for 32 points and more big shots than Larry Bird in a Celtics-Lakers postseason series.
ESPN.com had its “experts” pick their midseason All-Americans along with the potential Final Four teams. I guess that these “experts” haven’t been watching much college basketball in the past few years and forgot about the Georgia Techs, Marquettes and Louisvilles of the past Final Fours, forgetting that with 65 teams in the tournament, upsets do happen.
Six of the eight picked Duke, Connecticut, Villanova and Michigan State, and only one, Doug Gottlieb, picked Hassan Adams as a first team All-American selection.
The point is: Everyone who thinks he knows college basketball shouldn’t overlook Adams.
He is in the top five in the nation in steals, he could average double figures in rebounds if we didn’t rely on his shooting so much and he steps up big when we need him to.
In my opinion, Adams is the best player in the Pac-10 without question, and if he leads one of the best basketball conferences in America, he should at least be on the short list of All-American candidates.
I have watched Adams for four years and seen him progress continually into a potential superstar who sports the No. 21 and flies through the air like an out-of-control eagle.
Are everyone else’s eyes closed?